Introducing the D-SIP class of 2021!

As the Development Summer Internship Program (D‑SIP) celebrates its 15th anniversary, we are excited to welcome the 2021 cohort to the D‑SIP family. Interns will virtually work with host sites across U‑M and Washtenaw County. The D‑SIP 2021 cohort will tackle a range of projects while furthering their knowledge of the development field and growing as young professionals. Please join us in following their progress throughout the summer.

Institute for Social Research

This summer, Gwyn will analyze ISR’s newly updated donor constituency to identify major giving prospects. By helping our team to identify, successfully solicit, and ultimately retain solid donors and prospects, Gwyn’s projects will create the philanthropic foundation for a bold and innovative future of social research dedicated to the public good. 

Center for the Education of Women (CEW+)

Dimitra will be gathering both qualitative and quantitative data to enable her to create an annual report that shares the impact of giving with CEW donors. Dimitra will also develop a template and organizational system for the CEW to collect and catalogue content for future annual reports. 

Office of University Development, Annual Giving

As an intern for OUD, Ali’s primary objective is to provide University Annual Giving (UAG) and Student Philanthropy (SP) with research and recommendations that will be implemented in the 2021-2022 and subsequent academic years. 

College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, Marketing and Communications

This project will allow Megan the opportunity to develop formal project management skills while understanding how advancement units leverage websites to create and deliver content that drives engagement and recruits prospective students. 

Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design

Lindsey will have the opportunity to work with STAMPS to conduct benchmarking research of U‑M SCUs and other nationally recognized art schools as well as assess the current alumni engagement opportunities around mentorship available at Stamps through both the Development and Career offices. 

Office of University Development, DEI

This summer, Cortez will work with OUD DEI to create a census survey and process to collect data on staff of color from OUD and the development community. This census would establish the first- ever database on self-reported data by U‑M development staff of color. 

Michigan Medicine, Top Donor Engagement

In preparation for a future fundraising campaign, Madeline, Prospect Development, and the Top Donor Engagement (PD & TDE) teams at Michigan Medicine Office of Development are piloting a project to explore the networks of our high-profile donors and prospects to discover individuals who are new to our constituency and could potentially become part of our principal-gift pipeline. 

Rackham Graduate School

Krishna will work with Rackham to review the current plan for a graduate student scholarship ambassador program and update in consideration of the pandemic environment. She will also promote awareness of Rackham scholarships and funding programs to our graduate student population. 

School of Information

Arim will use her role to coordinate a welcome email campaign with UMSI alumni volunteers to welcome incoming graduate students to the UMSI community. The project will extend outreach to past and new alumni volunteers, collaborate with other UMSI units (e.g., Student Affairs), and improvement of best practices for sustaining this program into future years. 

Dobson, Women’s Center

Cameron will be an integral part of the Fund Development team. He will work on a new strategy as part of the development dashboard. As an intern, Cameron will be responsible for researching and identifying online and crowdfunding models to fundraise to bring in new and diverse donors. 

Dobson, Peace Neighborhood

Cierra will spend the summer compiling and analyzing a list of important Peace constituent groups and researching best practices for re-engaging these groups. She will also be working with Peace staff to develop an outreach strategy to re-engage this population and help execute the strategy through multiple platforms and communications initiatives. 

Office of University Development, Marketing and Communications

Lily will be working with the Marketing and Communications Team to benchmark with other universities and nonprofit organizations about their digital fundraising/marketing practices. She will also work to develop best-practice recommendations for the MarCom team as we prepare for the next fundraising campaign. 

U‑M Dearborn

Juhui will have the opportunity to enhance DEI efforts by benchmarking 10 to 15 peer institutions to see what type of programming is offered. By researching and understanding OUD’s strategy, Juhui will help improve the next generation of philanthropy opportunities at UM-Dearborn. 

School of Music, Theatre, and Dance

Mara and SMTD Communications will work together to screen, analyze, and rate SMTD alumni to identify SMTD major giving prospects. Working with both the SMTD major gifts and Prospect Development and Analytics teams, Mara will be given an unfiltered list of alumni who participated in select non-major ensembles and will add them to the DART database through a process of matching and verifying. 

Dobson, Ozone House

As a Dobson intern, Kimberly will partner with Ozone House staff and volunteers to execute a Peer-to-Peer (P2P) fundraising campaign to attract new donors and provide a platform for current supporters of Ozone House to fundraise on behalf of the organization. 

Office of University Development, National Major Gifts

This summer, Meghan will work collaboratively with the National Major Gifts team to create, write, and design stewardship/cultivation projects for a select group of 10 actively managed or UHNW pipeline prospects. She will also personalize special cultivation and stewardship touchpoints for U‑M donors and prospects across the country. 

College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, Business Intelligence

Pulak will be a part of a project that will focus on the building of a divisional understanding of each stage of the pipeline as well as development of the necessary analytical tools for strategic deployment of fundraising data. Pulak’s work will allow LSA’s development staff to have stage data analysis at their fingertips equipping the team with a better understand the potential of their prospect pool. 

Office of University Development, Gifts and Records Administration

Anna will lead a project to investigate the various root causes as to the creation of duplicate records and the reasons for returned mail, as well as the impacts that these issues have on the overall fundraising efforts and in turn determine recommendations for lessening the byproducts these produce. 

Dobson, Washtenaw Literacy

As a Dobson intern, Madeline will develop a comprehensive communications plan targeted to unique age segments among volunteers and prospective donors to provide a timeline for communications segmented by age demographics. Madeline will also provide a method to track communications linking back to annual giving metrics. 

Stephen M. Ross School of Business

In partnership with the Ross School of Business, Ayushi will work to increase student giving, increase student engagement with student philanthropy initiatives, and work to increase stewardship engagement of Ross Annual Fund donors. 

School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS)

This summer, Madeline will focus on two main projects: Driving SEASnet engagement and Stewardship Reporting. Madeline will create a SEASnet marketing plan for 2021- 2022 and present strategies to increase student and alumni engagement, such as virtual events, career/networking ideas, SEASnet promotional campaigns, etc. 

Michigan Medicine, Rehabilitation Therapies

As a D‑SIP Intern, Amber will play a crucial role in helping develop an overarching philanthropic strategy for the department by identifying funding priorities across all inpatient and outpatient clinics. Additionally, Amber will work with MiMed to begin benchmarking and building a Grateful Patient training program for all Michigan Medicine Physical, Occupational, and Recreational Therapists.